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the top earner today. we will hear from business leaders on how reform should be done. lou dobbs weighs in. melissa: our very own charlie gasparino goes one-on-one with municipal analyst. that should be very interesting. lori: let's get things started with the latest addition of stocks now. the 20 you see volatility here. the fix is to the downside today on a day where we are gaining triple digits, unlike yesterday where we love triple digits. the majority of the dow components are in the green. we have economic numbers showing

expanding numbers in the u.s. service. we will take a look at a longer term chart. back to you. lori: thank you, as always. melissa: breaking news. the budget office releasing the latest numbers. what we can expect our deficit to be. rich: $845 billion for this year. this is the first time in five years. let's take a look at the next ten years. then it starts to climb up again. the aging of the population and interest payments begin hitting the budget even harder. all the way to 2023.

pat -- that added to the national debt. it is expected to be $26 trillion by the year 2023. 1.4% by next year. an increase in growth by 4.4%. 2019-2023, that 2.2%. a percent average on the unemployment rate. next year at 7.6%. that would be six consecutive years at unemployment more than 7.5%. as for the debt held by the public, that is expected to stay above 73%. a little information on how much the tarp program, that bank bailout, it will cost federal government $22 billion.

$85 billion are expected to hit the budget this year on march 1. undoing that will add one and a quarter percent to gdp. this is known as a baseline scenario. remember, all the times the bush tax rates were expected to expire. this is probably the best look. the most honest look we have gone from cbo in years now. i want to show you one more thing on deficit reduction. this is the three scenarios. if you increase deficits by $2 trillion, long-term, by 2023, you start to slow down if you had no deficit reduction. look at how much growth increases here. you take a short-term hit for next year, in the long term, you

are adding almost two percentage points to gdp. back to you. lori: that was just about as helpful of a visual as you can get when it comes to understanding this math. melissa: that really breaks it down. what is the cost of reducing the deficit. if only we would have done that before. a great report. thank you. lori: troubling, at best. let's continue on. reversing yesterday's pullback and continuing to rally through the start of this year. will this continue? >> i am pretty optimistic going forward. i do think you will hit about 1675 on the s&p as the year end

target. the housing recovery will continue. i think overall, you have stabilization in europe and individual investors returning to the equity market this year. lori: sounds fantastic. what about our national debt? with economic growth at best, 3.6%, how will markets behave in that environment? >> i think, overall, the equity markets are looking at substantially lower growth and higher deficits. these negotiations need to work out to be reasonably positive for the financial markets. these projections are really subject to massive change depending on the negotiations. overall, equity investors are basically hunker down for a long period of very slow growth.

to, 2.5%. lori: how do you expect markets to react as we go to this budget negotiation? >> equity markets are anticipatory by nature. basically, the report in early december was to ignore these negotiations in washington. i do not think you will see devastating news come out of this process. hopefully we will see something more positive and get on a more sustainable path on the deficit front. in all likelihood, you are not likely to see big changes. lori: what is the best way to be investing around the dow here? >> i do believe that, basically, use pullbacks as a buying

opportunity. yesterday was a bit of a reality check for investors. that is highly unusual and environment given the high uncertainty that we are seeing. i think, overall, you will be looking up a box that add to positions. lori: stables had quite a run. it just tells me that investors are still cautious. the winners, you know, the sectors are still the way to go with all of the ammunition behind the stock market. >> it is obviously the risk aversion of the historic proportions. also, this desire for you. you will see a natural progression in the chase for yield.

you have seen it in the bond market. i think equities are beginning to take off and reflect this hunger for yield. if you look at the spread between the dividend yield in the tenure -- i think clearly the bat to be made here is the risk aversion dissipates, especially given where we are right now in the economic cycle. lori: thank you, sir. melissa: we have an alert for you right now. taking a look at shares of dell. after searching for the last two years, they are going private in a deal with a little over $24 billion. under terms of the deal, they are going private with silverlake. they will get $13.65 for every sure that they hold.

michael dell currently holds a 60% stake in the company. we have some breaking news as well. we expect to hear from president obama on the automatic spending cuts due to go into affect on march 1. we will bring you the remarks as soon as they happen. lori: dollar stores breaking in the cash. charles payne joins us to tell us whether this stock is worth your box. melissa: less time in the office, more time on the beach. an economist argues the case as we head out to break. let's look at metals, as well. gold trading down on the day. silver and copper trading higher. will be right back. ♪ she knows you like no one else.

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lori: dollar stores are pinching their pennies. analysts suggest that the hundreds of new stores added recently have caused less demand and in turned sales growth has lessened. $1 billion to lower spending and learn some of the customers back. melissa: it is time to make a little money with charles payne. remember when one of them was trying to move in on rodeo drive. i was like, that is the top. it is over. everyone get out. charles: you know, listen, first of all, the stocks have had a huge run. dollar general is up 90%. family dollar is up 86%. in the meantime, over the last year, the margins have started to calm down. family dollar has very low

margins. here is a wildcard, though. this payroll tax cut. december, we saw a tremendous jump in income. a lot of it was special dividends that big-time bonuses being paid ahead of the tax hike. people did not spend that money. that is amazing. i think this year people will have to make a serious choice. they will have to make a choice to save money or just to go ahead and spend it. melissa: what is the third option on that? [ laughter ] charles: in other words, if people really truly say, okay, i have to buckle down and save. that means i really have to cut back dramatically on a budget. these households could be -- melissa: they always say you do not want to be third at anything. you do not want to invest in

number three. the space is so crowded. charles: there is no dow about it. one stop to take a look at is five below. the stock is up two dollars today. the company went public recently. this stock is awesome. if you do feel like you have to spend and have a little elbow room, instead of one dollar you have five dollars. the walmarts and targets are starting to look pretty interesting, as well. five below is a stock that has kind of caught my eye that is acting tremendous, as far as investors are concerned. let's watch to see where the savings rate goes. even though there is a big crowd here, you could help. lori: is this the kind of company that benefits when you have these depressed consumer

confidence numbers? charles: they benefit. when people say my check is a lot smaller than i thought it would be caught and, again, 6.5% over the little bit that they have less to spend will be spent in the dollar stores. valuations are not outrages on them. walmart itself has over 10,000 stores. melissa: as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. nicole petallides. nicole: taking a look at and etf pertaining to homebuilders. we know that home prices have been all on the rise. including some of the stocks that go with it. we are taking a look at this one. home prices grew 0.4% in december. the outlook caught a 1% drop in

january. you do have barclays cutting. back to you. melissa: thank you so much. we have breaking news for you. lori: we are waiting for the president. we just got the two-minute warning. high deficits. high national debt. no surprise there. the president expected to address the public, approach the podium here in less than two minutes. he will be approaching the sequestration. in the meantime, boeing has her question permission from a federal aviation commission. the faa has confirmed the request, but has not said whether or not it will approve the test. all 50 of boeing's 7872 minors

-- straight to the president. >> lasting impacts on the pace of our recovery. economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress in 2013. we have seen signs of this progress over the last several weeks. home prices continue to climb, car sales continue to be at a five-year high, manufacturing has been strong and we have created more than 6 million jobs in the last 35 months. we have also seen the affects of political to the function. the drawnout process for resolving the fiscal cliff, hurt consumer confidence. we have been reminded that while it is critical for us to cut wasteful spending, we cannot just cut our way to prosperity.

deep, indiscriminate cuts to things like education, training, energy and national security will cost us jobs it will slow down our recovery. it is not the right thing to do for the economy, it is not the right thing for folks that are out there still looking for work. the good news is this does not have to happen. for all the drama and disagreements we have had over the last few years, democrats and republicans have been able to come together and cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a mix of spending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy. a balanced approach has achieved more than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction. that is more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties believe it is required to save our debt.

i believe we can finish the job with a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform. the proposals that i put forward during the fiscal cliff negotiations, and discussions with speaker boehner and others, are still very much on the table. i just want to repeat, do deals that i fell forward, the balanced approach of spending cuts and entitlement reform that i put forward are still on the table. i have offered sensible reforms and my health care proposals achieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms that have been opposed by the bipartisan fiscal commission. these reforms would reduce our government bill.

[ laughter ] >> what is up, cameraman? [ laughter ] >> these reforms would reduce our government failed by by reducing the cost of healthcare. they would achieve the kind of savings that we are looking for. in order to achieve the full deficit reductions that is the stated goal of economist and our elected leaders, these modest reforms have two go hand-in-hand with a process of tax reform. the wealthiest individuals and corporations cannot take advantage of loopholes and deductions that are not available to most americans. leaders of both parties have already identified the need to get rid of these loopholes and deductions. there is no reason why we should keep them at a time where we are

trying to cut down on our deficit. if we are going to close these loopholes, there is no reason we should use the savings we obtained and turn around and spend that on new tax breaks for the wealthiest or for corporations. if we are serious about paying down the deficit, the savings we achieve from tax reform should be used to pay down the deficit. and it should be used to potentially make our businesses more competitive. now, i think, is balanced mix of spending cuts and tax reform is the best way to finish the job of deficit reduction. the overwhelming majority of the american people, democrats and republicans, as well as independents, have the same view. and both the house and senate are working towards budget proposals that i hope help reflect this balanced approach. having said that, i know that having a full budget may not be finished before march 1. unfortunately, that is the date

my fear is a powerful automatic cuts also known as the silk was sure are scheduled to take effect. if congress cannot act immediately on a bigger package -- i believe they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delight the damaging effects of the sequester for a few months. there is no reason that the jobs of thousands of americans who work in national security or education or clean energy, not to mention, the growth of the entire economy should be put in jeopardy just because folks in washington could not come together to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes or government programs that we

agree need some reform. congress is already working towards a budget that would permanently replace the sequester. at the very least, we should give them a chance to come up with this budget. let me just repeat, our economy right now is headed in the right direction. it will stay that way as long as there are not any more self-inflicted wounds coming out of washington. let's keep chipping away at this process together, as democrats and republicans want to give our workers and businesses the support that they need to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. thank you very much. i know you will have a whole bunch of other questions. that is why i hire this guy got jay carney, to answer those questions. thank you. lori: saying it may be better to

get a smaller federal budget passed before the march 1 deadline and perhaps delay the sequestration. we know that already took lines in spending cuts lead our economy into native growth in the fourth quarter of last year. again, the federal budget deficit, what to do about it. the cuts were supposed to be punitive in their exception. there is a camp of lawmakers who believe this is actually spending cuts. we need any kind of cuts that we can. there is the other camp that says just that, they would be punitive. with that, i want to bring in lou dobbs. lou: you would never know with what he just said that it was his refusal and of harry reid, he is again violating the law of the land that does not put forward a budget.

this is all, remember they used to say there is no drama obama. he is all about drama. this is reaching absurd proportions. it is very dangerous but the president is doing. this is a leadership vacuum that you are watching right now in washington, d.c. it is deeply disturbing to watch it unfold. melissa: especially when you listen to the language that he is using and you realize ever want at the table is speaking a completely different language. when you are trying to make a deal with someone, you try to understand what the other person is saying. it is the opposite of what we are seeing here completely.

lou: a glimpse of the apocalypse. the markets, i believe, right now we are up a few points from when he actually began talking. we will see this market begin to yield to the sheer weight of the uncertainties that are compounding in washington, d.c. you cannot continue along this path. both parties talk about sustainability. this is simply not sustainable. the markets will react when there is too much riding on this for these leaders, i include the president, i include the democrats and republicans to continue to act like adolescents . it is, this is embarrassing for all of us to watch. lori: it is nothing new. we have been down this road at least twice in the last year. all the more outrageous. this has been going on since 2009.

we are talking about for years that a budget was passed and talking about sequestration, and, as usual, what we are witnessing here is this administration and the republican party as well as democrats, trying to avoid the consequences of the decisions that they either make or do not make. it is a pitiful game that is being played. whether it is this, whether it is for policy or whether it is immigration, gun control, you would not know that we have a 50 year low and murder in this country. it is that a 50 year low in this president is hysterical about gun control. this is the kind of nonsense that is going on because there is no sound board for this president. it is called reality. lori: thank you. lou: it is great to be with you.

lori: great to have you, as always. we will be watching tonight at 7:00 p.m. lou: i am excited. in ten years we will have an improved unemployment level. it is scary, folks. it is really scary. melissa: it is. less time in the office, more time on vacation. sounds great, right? it could be the answer to solving our global warming problems. lori: mortgage-backed bonds led to the financial crisis back in 2008. charlie gasparino talks to a former s&p person about that. ♪

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melissa: thedown is really bouncing up and down around that 14,000 mark for you today. -- dow jones industrial average. let's go to nicole to find out who the big winners are, drivers of the strong market today. >> you're seeing gains across the board here on a day you're seeing drugs banks, retailers up up arrows. triple-digit gains on the dow, 14,000. the bulls are feeling pretty good today. i want to show you a couple names. how high can they go? first let's look at hormel. hormel on the move today on the same day their acquisition of u.s. skippy peanut butter business. that is closing. that is good news for hormel. when i actually chart the i had out for 20 years all the way back to 1993 i'll tell you looked like hormel was 20-career high, annual, lifetime high.

another name that also looked like an all-time high in a quick 20-year chart is kellogg. when you talk about the frosted flakes and kellogg is another name on the move and also a winner. reporting a high, reported a narrower loss than expected here. look at kellogg, another name. we'll continue to always watch green mountain coffee roasters which has been jumping but nowhere near the highs that we saw in 2011. green mountain coffee is another story. but it is gaining. back to you. lori: always great to hear from you, nicole. thanks. melissa: work less and save the world. a new report out by the center for economic and policy research found cutting our work hours by half a percent can drastically cut down on carbon emissions and global warming. could shifting a european work schedule work for this country? joining me we have the codirector of economic policy and research. thanks for coming on the show. >> thank you. melissa: there is a little bit of a tough sell with so many people out of work or 22 million people who don't make enough money to pay

their bills, to say we should work less to save the environment but let's give it a go. one question i had about this was, so if i work less, i don't understand why that is better for the environment? because when i'm here at work, i'm at my desk, i'm on the computer. i'm walking around the office. when i'm not working, i'm in a car. i'm a plane, going on vacation. seems like i'm using so much more energy and my carbon footprint is so much bigger when i'm not here? >> let me explain first, in terms of employment, shorter work hours are also a solution to the unemployment problem, a partial solution that is very important. and in fact, in germany, they reduced hours. they had a program for shorter hours and giving employers a choice, rather than lay people off and collect unemployment compensation, you use those fund and others to keep them on the job. melissa: i don't, i can't let you go with that because i don't understand how is a solution. that is what we call the u-6 number in this country.

those are people employed part-time looking for more work because they can't possibly support their family or pay their bills based on how little they're working. so you're advocating for more people to work less. that is their economic benefit. >> well we, that, well, really worked for germany. their unemployment rate, counting people looking for work, their unemployment rate actually fell through the recession even though they lost as much production and output, you know, gdp as we did. and they actually lowered their unememployment rate where we proctor & gambleally doubled ours. so short work was definitely a solution for them and it has been also --. melissa: i think we're talking past each other. you're talking about people that only could be earning less in total wages for the year and people who can't pay their bills i don't know how earning less even, if it makes the employment number look better because maybe more people are dropping out workforce, that doesn't seem like much of a solution. >> it is not people dropping

out of the workforce. melissa: working less. they can't pay their bills. >> well, they're working fewers hours but they're --. melissa: exactly. >> their pay is not reduced by the amount that hair hours are reduced. so it is, believe me. melissa: are they paid also overall? is there paycheck smaller at end of the day. just answer that question. is their paycheck smaller or is it not. >> yes, but they are a lot better off on the street. melissa: how are you better off if you can't pay your bills. >> because when you're unemployed you're a lot poorer than when working 30 something hours a week. melissa: why don't we grow the economy an increase productivity and increase gdp and then everyone is better off, rather than everyone having less and shrinking the pie, how is that solution? >> i agree that is the best solution you unfortunately our congress doesn't see it that way. they're more concerned, especially in the house about deficit reduction than they are are growing the economy. if you reduce the deficit you shrink the economy. that seems to be what --. melissa: actually, cbo put

out a report at the beginning of this show showed exactly the at sit. that if you shrink the deficit over time you grow the economy. that the math, cbs a nonpartisan group came out had math to show exactly the opposite what he just said. we started our show with that. mark, we're out of time. i would love to have you back because we didn't even get to talk about what it was supposed because we got so stuck on this issue. i hope you come back we can actually do this story. >> okay, thank you. lori: okay. we do have breaking news for you. energy company, entergy says they're hiring a third party to conduct a review of the blackout during the super bowl. entergy also says they're conducting an internal review of the blackout. entergy of course the main company that provides power to new orleans, the super dome there. entergy shares are up a buck. $65.14 is the trade. melissa: ratings from s&p and the department of justice cross-hairs over mortgage bond ratings before the financial crisis in 2008. up next, charlie gasparino

talks to a former s&p insider. lori: let's look at interest rates as we go to break. 10 and 30-year notes, maybe, maybe not. melissa: that was insane, right? was that crazy? that was insane. lori: yeah, i reserving commentary there. ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all onhinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪

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strong earnings from some of america's biggest companies. right now take a look at the dow. the dow is up 120 points. exactly 14, ,000 on the nose. shares of archer daniels midland after the company reported better than expected adjust revenue an earnings. they earned a profit of 60 cents a share on revenue of nearly $25 billion. growth of u.s. service companies slowed slightly in january as new orders and business activity declined but hiring did improve. the institute for supply management index of nonmanufacturing activity dipped to 55.2 last month that is down slightly from december and did match the estimate. any reading over 50 indicates expansion. that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

melissa: the justice department filing a lawsuit against standard & poor's bringing renewed focus to

the inaccurate ratings of the subprime mortgage securities that helped trigger the financial crisis. here with the latest is fox business senior correspondent charlie gasparino, joined by a special guest. charlie. >> my special guest is dick larkin, former s&p analyst. before i get to you, dick, i want to lay out a couple things here so we have a context where the justice department is going with the suit. obviously missed a lot of ratings during the subprime crisis of the those bonds blew up. doj, from what we understand, what sources are telling the fox business network, that are trying to prove s&p violating its own ratings criteria during the housing bubble. why is it important? the supreme court has ruled in at least one precedent, first amendment defense is what s&p will say, it is our opinion is void if you violate your own criteria. we should also point out that the justice department has been looking at this for several years. what do you have to say about that? you were in the belly of the beast of s&p. >> s&p never lost a lawsuit

on its ratings from what i understand. again their defense was the first amendment. from what i understand about this lawsuit and department of justice is their biggest, their biggest opponent to now. they have deeper pockets than anybody else. and, my guess is it might have to do with what we call could be september at s&p of the inner circle and the outer circle. >> was this -- let's back up. was this a concept or was this part of their criteria. >> not only part of the criteria but it was drilled into analysts. >> explain. >> the outer circle, outside observers people who bought bond. s&p was outside observer is. the inner circle were people selling bond. >> bankers. >> investment bankers, basically structuringing the december. s&p always said we whether in the outer circle. i get the feeling based on what i've seen in terms of e-mails and text messages that breach between the inner circle and the outer circle where s&p was supposed to be, i get the

feeling doj believes that was breached. >> okay. why did that happen? you were in the municipal bond department, a different department than that was structuring these deals. this was a structured finance department. in the structured finance deals, putting together -- >> structured finance department at s&p was the biggest moneymaker by far. by far. >> huge moneymaker. >> much more than that other departments because -- >> -- >> that is where the business was. >> during 2,000 the run-up to the financial crisis but here's the interesting thing. if you're a rater on a structured finance deal, i know this, because i spoke with a lot of these guys that were involved in these deals, you are actually part of the deal. you worked with the banker, with the issuer. you kind of dealt with them about how to get that aaa rating which was so important to sell a mortgage-backed security or a credit or a collateralized debt obligation. >> let me stop you right there. the analysts were always involved with issuesers on any rating.

whether municipal deal i was working on are structured deal. you drew the line. here's the information. we'll look at it. they came back with the rating f they didn't like the rating, was hoping to get a higher rating they weren't told, this is what you do to get a higher rating. they were saying here's what the problem is. this is why you're rated as low as you are. this is what's stopping you from getting a higher rating. if you address that we'll consider it. from what what i understand in terms of e-mails and texts going back and forth between analysts there were direct negotiations saying not so much that, you're not doing what you need to do. >> right. >> but more along the lines, this is what you have to do. here's the road map to get to where you want to do. >> okay. and so -- >> that's what happens. based on what i'm getting from, sounds like that inner circle, outer circle thing was breached. i think that what is do swrchlt is going for. >> okay. in s&p's defense, you know,

looks a little fishy here. this is the one rater that downgraded the u.s. government. they're not the only rater that did crummy stuff during the run-up. >> absolutely right. >> doesn't this look fishy to you? the government going -- >> raising questions why are they going after s&p and after moody's and not moody's and fitch? s&p, maybe i'm biased has been a leader in terms of telling people this is what we do. this is how we do it. they have been very open, more than the other two ratings agencies and i think the reason doj is going after them because they have been so open, saying this is our rules. these are our criteria. doj can look at that and say we think now we caught you on something you said you were doing but now you're not. >> we should point out that doj has been working on this case, i got this from a source that is advisor to the government for several is years now. they have been clearly looking at the rating agencies, following the financial crisis. they think, just because the

other ones didn't get charged. that doesn't mean they won't get charged. they seem to think this is the best case they got because this is the first case they're bringing the my question to you though is this. the bankers would go around to various rating agencies and say, well, if you don't give us a aaa on this i'm taking it to this guy. they would play each one them against each other. don't they deserve some of the blame here as well as the ratings agencies? >> if that is what happened, yes. i can tell you -- >> that is definitely happened. ratings shopping occurs all the time. >> it was always volatile. no one ever said to me if i don't get a rating to you i'm going to somebody else. if they did, it didn't matter the rating was the same. i get the feeling again from reading the e-mails and text e-mails that have come out that s&p and others were making decisions based on, we need to keep this business. did i see it going on?

no, i wasn't there. e-mails and text mails are damaging. >> we should point out in, forget about muni bonds and structured finance. three rating agencies did matter. fitch was a major player. you could shop among the three. let me i can make this other point. put this in historical context. i covered the municipal bond market for a while. >> that is how i met you. >> that is how we met each other many years ago unfortunately. new york city financial crisis in the mid '70s, there was a major investigation. congressional investigation and securities & exchange commission investigation of standard & poor's at that point, correct. >> absolutely. i just started right when that was happening. >> is this biggest case since then? >> yes. absolutely. >> there we go. guys, back to you. melissa: charlie gasparino, thanks so much. interesting stuff. lori: let's check markets for you. nicole is on the floor of the stock exchanges. looks like the dow is providing a little bit of a reassistance. >> sitting on level of

13,999. that's true. it is a psychological level. today at highest point we were at 14,006. we were hovering around all these levels. bulls are happy we didn't give back the gains we've seen. dow component disney will be one to watch. we watched hit all-time high after all-time high. it is up 3/4 of 1% over last 52 weeks. disney has been a great performer up over 52%. chipolte, aflac, zynga, cme group, bank of america going to a buy from unperform on zynga. keep an eye on that one as well. back to you. lori: nicole, we'll do. melissa: everyone loves the blackberry with the keyboard. with the new 10 version without the beloved keyboard will be a winner? lori: you say no. i disagree. canada gets rid of the penny. will the u.s. follow suit? here are winnerses and losers on the nasdaq for you.

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lori: blackberry has been on sale in the u.k. users in the states still have another month to go before the blackberry latest release. shibani joshi. i heard you gals before the break. you sound like doubting thomases. not buyers, is the new blackberry. melissa: well not yet at least. blackberry wants to hear. that is the biggest sort of criticism we heard yet of

the earlier reviews of the z 10. there is little something for everyone. one thing clearly missing with keyboard. is early indication. in canada. initial sales of the z 10 are off to a great start. z10 is off to a better start since the lumia 920. not a endorsement since lumia is fourth place in market share. bloomberg saying we have grown more confident in the likely success of the blackberry 10 launch, over in the u.k. the device sold out in 20 minutes in many different locations. today in canada, we're hearing of record sales already. so we may be able to change our mind before it makes our way over here in march. lori: looks fancy. have to give it that. melissa: speaking of canada the end of the penny. the royal canadian mint

halted production and penny in financial institutions. cost 11 million bucks to reduce the coin. part of the discontinuation of the process. canadian government is encouraging stores to round their prices to nearest nickel. do you think that will be up or down? attempts at legislation to discontinue the american penny have been up successfuls u.s. treasury department reported that the obama administration is looking to produce the penny with a new material to reduce the national production costs. lori: as long as they continue to calling the dollar the looney i love that. canadians have the best sense of humor. so funny, delaying sequestration, president heard a couple minutes ago, urging congress to pass a deal to delay the automatic spending cuts. ashley webster and tracy byrnes have the latest next. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine.

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step seven point two one two. rify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. melissa:. lori: companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. more "likes." more tweets. so, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. any questions? since we make radiator valves wouldn't it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets? hmm gotta admit that's better than a few "likes." i don't have the door code. who's that? he won a contest online to be ceo for the day. how am i supposed to run a business here without an office?! [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. fedex. how do traders using technical analysis streamline their process? at fidelity, we do it by merging two tools into one.

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ashley: good afternoon, everybody, i'm ashley webster. tracy: i'm tracy byrnes. stocks rebounding from the worst trading session since november. better-than-expected earnings are driving the gains. ashley: spending and more spending. the congressional budget office releasing its projections how high our deficits are going to be. tracy: immigration reform, this is topic number one at the white house right now. the president will hear from business leaders on how it should be done. ashley: plus it's official. dell is going private, in the largest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis but there's a new concern, well, giving investors pause. tracy: but it is top of the hour. time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the exchange. the dow is trying to get back to that 14,000. we're three point away. >> almost like stuck, right. go, go. it is like if you're a bull out there and want to see this market continue to the upside, a lot of traders still big picture think 2013 will break new highs, break

all-time highs for that matter. there is no doubt at these levels we are overbought according to the experts here on the floor, that we're overbought and hovering around these 14,000 levels. not sure pleased to see a little bit of a pullback anytime. today we're up 118 points. majority of the names are in the green, whether it is banks or drugs and the like. we traded as high as 14,000006 today. looks look like it could be the -- 14,006. could be third triple-digit day in a row. yesterday we lost 130 points and today we're up again. today a little volatility that is not unusual here in this type of a market as well. back to you. tracy: thanks, nicole. we'll see you in 15 minutes. ashley: dell reaching a deal to go private after weeks of negotiations. the price tag, $24.4 billion, but shares, barely moving higher. is this the deal that shareholders have really been waiting for? topeka capital markets analyst brian white joining

me on the phone. brian, at the end of the day was this the best option for dell, clearly falling behind in the pc market and pc market itself always has been on the decline for a number of years now. was this the only and best option? >> i think it is the best option of the investors gave dell evaluation of three times earnings ex their cash in november after the earnings report. it would have been farfetched to get this type of evaluation in such a short period of time. i think it is a good deal. ashley: now, what about the share price. 13.65? michael dell will be the majority owner. you have got private equity firm silver lake. there are those who say it is a steal. bar ron's magazine says the company is worth as much as 25 bucks a share. >> what i find humerous about all the concerns this is undervalued. i go back to november when the stock is at 8.60, people

were paying three times ex cash. this is valuation is five times ex cash, people are crying over it. this is fair valuation. people didn't want to give it a good valuation what it was under nine dollars. this is better deal. why wouldn't you accept it. ashley: not surprisingly hp, hewlett-packard, issuing a statement today, taking a look at dell, basically saying dell's ability to invest in new products and services will be hurt by its debt burden. is there something to that point? >> i look at that really as sour dpraps. i think hp would love to go private but it's impossible. they already have a big debt burden. a lot of their markets are in decline and it's too big. so i think they're green with envy as they look at dell dell taking themselves private. at the end the dave i think what it will allow dell to do is get rid of a lot of

the burden of being a public company, some of the bureaucracy that comes with that, some of the overhead that comes with that. ashley: right. >> be much more flexible, nimble company but yet of size and focused on cloud computing. that is the future for dell. that is where they want to bring think, they need to catch up. very quickly, brian, we're almost out of time. what is the endgame for michael dell here? could he be leaving, stepping down, sooner rather than later? or could private stakeholders bring in a new ceo? >> he obviously has to perform. he is ceo and chairman of this private company but i do think this is his second act, right? ashley: yeah. >> steve jobs had a second act. i think this is dell's second act. first was pcs. and he wants to make it work in enterprise and the cloud and i think this is his opportunity. ashley: if he could do what steve jobs did he would be very popular up deed. brian white, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thanks a lot, bye. tracy: all right. we have a news alert for you. moments ago president obama

pressing congress to avoid a way avoid automatic spending cuts that go into effect but he admitted he may not be able to uphold his end of the bargain. >> i know that a full budget may not be finished before march 1st. and unfortunately that is the date when a series of harmful automatic cuts to job creating invests and defense spending also known as the sequester, are scheduled to take effect. tracy: that budget was originally due on february 4th. we're a little late as it is. ashley: yesterday. tracy: and the congressional budget office says the federal deficit will fall to $845 billion this fiscal year. that is down sharply from the past four years. now it also assumes the automatic spending cuts will take place which of course president obama says he wants to avoid. hmmm. here to break down the numbers, steve bell, senior director of economic policy at the bipartisan policy center and former staff director for the senate budget committee.

thanks for being with us right now. what do you make of all that? cbo came out with all these numbers. the upside is the permanent tax rates are worked into this. this is little truer of a view out into the future, isn't it? >> in some ways it is. i like to read the first sentence they have in the cbo report. economic growth will remain slow this year cbo anticipates. and they go on it say, that the debt as a percentage of gdp will increase under current law. and that the last four years of their forecast really could not, should not be taken as really a forecast, more just sort of an estimation. there is not much good news in the cbo report if you look at it objectively. tracy: i agree with you. and they also said unemployment will remain above 7.5% through next year. they thought unemployment would go to 8.9% in 2012. cale came in at 7.8%. so there is fair amount of

wiggle room, isn't there. >> there is a fair amount of wiggle room. you can't get very excited when you have 14.4% of the people in america who are either dropping out of the workforce or looking for work. i don't think we should try to sugar coat, in the last hour here on fox biz, four people used the word unsustainable. we can not sustain this fiscal path. tracy: i will make it a fifth. what is unsustainable to me are the interest payments we make. that is really the crux of the problem, isn't it? almost 2/3 of money our government brings in, it pays out i should say in interest? >> we spend a tremendous amount on interest, and we're very lucky that the 10-year is only about 2%, 10-year yield. tracy: right. >> because the average is well over 5% for the last 40 years. if that were to occur, right now, this year we would pay $650 billion in interest costs, which is slightly larger than the entire defense budget. we're not out of the woods

and so far all i have heard frankly are talking points from both sides. tracy: what do you want to hear? look, we all know by now that the majority of this issue is entitlements. we're just not seeing any really constructive thing being made any time soon. >> no, we're not. we know it is medicare, we know it is medicaid and we know it is pensions the same problems states have. only a few people like chairman ryan this is what i want to do about medicare. it will be phased in, if you're under 55 you will be affected by this. but if you're over 55 you won't. only people willing like that are willing to say it. as you know they sometimes are highly criticized for that. that is the truth, medicare is unsustainable in its present form. tracy: quickly before i let you go. we keep hearing they want to raise revenues. the tax code is a book of favors. i said it before. how do we fix this problem? collecting more taxes is not going to fix it? >> collecting more taxes

won't fix it and you think people who believe we'll have fundamental tax reform this year or next are probably overoptimistic i'm sad to say. tracy: yeah. that's a big bummer. steve bell, unfortunately we have to leave it at that note with the bipartisan policy center. one day we'll have tax reform. ashley: one day but meantime as you say a big bummer. tracy: huge. he is not wrong. those of us under 55, we're not expecting any of that to be there. ashley: don't count on it, that's for sure. tracy: not at all. ashley: immigration reform, a top priority at the white house today but the senate working on its own plan that has the support of tech heavyweights microsoft and facebook. details ahead. tracy: shedding some light on the situation. new details into the super bowl sunday's 34 minute power outage and the warnings dating all the way back to october. ashley: jeez. first as we do at this time every day let's take a look how oil is trading the dow is up as you can see 120 points. oil moving up about half a percent today at 96.68 a

barrel. we'll be right back. she's still the one fo-

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tracy: it is time to make money with charles payne. he is looking at an oil and gas company that has major exploration potential in the natural gas field. >> except it is a natural fast, liquified natural gas play. it is also a papua, new guinea. ashley has been all over the world. i have to find a stock somewhere where ashley has never been. you never been there, huh? ashley: i have never been there. >> economic development is going up rapidly. they have 5 retail gas stations there. that itself blows you away. ashley: that they have that many cars there? >> it is growing pretty well. it is funny, i'm really digressing now. jared diamond, come americals, the world out,

the world until yesterday. he talks about time spent in papua, new guinea. it has totally changed. here's the deal, they have a lot of oil and a lot of gas they have found because the government is shaking them down. they are trying to build big refineries, to make it in liquids and ship it all over the world and make big money particularly up in asia. japan if they get rid of nukes forget about it. they had a big deal where the government gets 20%. now they will get 50%. still will be a good deal for the company. they get the first dibs on x-amount of dollars. if they cut them back anymore than that it is a bad deal. if they go with this one, stick with this one, imagine a government shake being down private industry. tracy: i know. >> if they stick with this one, i still think the stock could do very well. wall street sees 100% annual revenue growth over the next five years versus 14% for the industry. this is one of these names. extraordinarily volatile.

high-risk. but the return could be gigantic as long as the government of the papua, new guinea --. ashley: doesn't get more greedy. tracy: it is up right now. where are you going in, where are you getting out. >> like it here. break out at 61. first target is 71. got to use a 15% stop loss on this because of the volatility. tracy: okay. ashley: yesterday vietnam. >> i'm going to the have a hard time following that tomorrow. tracy: geography. ashley: charles, great stuff. >> appreciate it. >> it is coming up to quarter past. time to check the markets the nicole at the new york stock exchange. a couple of food namesing on earnings today, nicole. >> that's right. look at two names very familiar names at that. we're going to talk first about kellogg. everybody knows all their cereals. breakfast cereals. the shares are hitting record all-time highs. 58.78. it traded as high as 59.39. analysts are jumping on board.

s&p as $63 billion target. they are seeing growth in lattn america. they're doing well at home. fourth quarter earnings beat the street. good news for kellogg and they back their full-year forecast. how about we take a look at yum! brands. that is the parent. k if. c, taco bell, pizza hut. they faced some headwinds particularly in china where they had some problems. this publicity problems pertaining to chicken. that obviously bodes knot well, is not good news for the revenue that they generate abroad. down 4% for yum! brands. ashley: no one likes a chicken scandal. nicole, thanks very much. we'll be back in 15 minutes. that is true, isn't it. tracy: that is the quote of the day. no one likes a chicken scandal. stocks rebounding nicely. the s&p back above 1500, already hitting, year-end targets. what does he do? see if he comes to work tomorrow. we'll ask bmo harris private bank cio jack ablin. ashley: fyi. even as earnings season is winding down, i guess we're

60% through, big names reporting after the bell. what you need to do know before disney, chipolte and zynga report. let's check how the dollar is moving right now, with the dollar gaping back a lot what it lost yesterday. check out the euro, up to 135.77. euro lapped leaders not happy with the strengthening euro as you can imagine. we'll be right back.

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm patti ann browne with your fox news minute. new secretary of state john kerry and soit korea's foreign minister agreed to punish north korea if it conduct as nuclear test. north korean leader kim jong-un that the country plans to conduct a nuclear test to protest tougher new u.n. sanctions. ahmadinejad is in cairo to meet with egyptian president mohammed morsi. this is the first trip toe egypt by an iranian leader in more than 40 years. a florida judge denied the a request by george zimmerman's attorneys to delay the trayvon martin trial until november. they argued that the prosecutors were slow to release evidence. zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer that shot 17-year-old martin

in december of 2012. zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense. that trial will begin in june. that is your headlines. back to ashley. ashley: thank you, very much, patti ann browne. earnings out with big names including cirrus xm and disney. sandra smith has a look at the hits and misses in today's trade. >> ashley i want to pull up sirius. if you haven't looked at stock it is still three bucks a share. if i go back to the past year this stock has gone up 50%. still under a 5 dollar stock. that being said there were highlights in sirius's report this morning before the bell. their earnings more than doubled. they continued to see subscriber growth. they have lower subscriber turnover. all positives. however, the stock is down after revenues fell more than estimated and, and they merely matched their overall earnings estimates. that being said, the stock not getting a great boost in today's session. it is actually down half a percent.

disney, the big media company, it reports after the bell tonight. its stock looking very similar. it has had huge growth over the past year but there is some concern heading into these earnings after the bell tonight, twice. their costs for their major many practicalling channel, espn, have gone way up. citigroup right now is expecting the overall media network, part of the company to only see a 5% growth. so, there is some hesitation with disney shares as we wait for those earnings after the bell tonight. disney has been one of the worst performers in the dow. it is fifth worst performer in the dow right now heading into that. that will be after the closing bell tonight. ashley and tracy. ashley: all right. thank you very much, sandra. well, of course don't forget stay with fox business's liz claman, david asman. they will bring us after-the-bell earnings news from disney, chipolte, expedia and singh fwa to name just a few -- zynga. tracy: household names. the dow on its way to posting a triple-digit gain

and the s&p 500 back above 1500. which is our next guest's year-end target. now what? does even go to work tomorrow? jack ablin, chief investment officer with bmo harris private bank. are you done for the year? do you close up shop? >> you know what? that's a good idea. if there wasn't a two inches of snow on the ground and at 20 degrees, sure i would pack it in but might as well come into work. tracy: so you're coming into work. you hit your target. what now? do you raise your target if we're doing this well in january? >> yeah i'll tell you, what we want to do is certainly reassess. we haven't sold. we're watching things. we may raise our target. i will say the first day of the year was probably, should have put into last year. in fact 1450 was our year end target for 2012. we came within a day. it just happened this year. if we do that, and throw it onto this year, it gets us up to around 1525.

still the fact remains we're close. so why is it that we hit so far? i think a lot of it is the market was trading and at what i could call a pretty sizable distrust discount. tracy: sure. >> because of the inaction in washington. and, you know, some of that progress may have erased some of that discount. tracy: we still have they a debt ceiling in may, sequester coming up anytime soon now. on the flipside though you are even suggesting will be some m&a activity going on this coming year. of course housing is looking really good. >> yeah. certainly there are a lot of key things working for the economy right now. housing one of them. certainly manufacturing. starting to really move and of course, you know the cheap energy that we enjoy. putting that all together we're certainly, you know, trying to head into what would be a, you know, a first year of an austerity year, right? we are going it see some government cutbacks with many so what of a running head start. so i think that is good news. like i said, we've seen some tax increases.

i would like to see spending reports as a result of these new taxes. tracy: right. >> in place. we'll have to see how that works out. and of course then sequestration which, you know, paul ryan and other republicans are braced for going ahead and tripping over it. so that could amount to roughly a 3% cut in government spending. tracy: jack, actually i've been hearing more and more about europe coming back on the radar screen. basically you have a currency war going on over there now, don't you? >> well that's it. in fact we've got japan, you know, starting to target some inflation, a little more dovish on the monetary side. the remarkable thing is, you know, over the last three months, that the euro has appreciated 30% against the yen. so think about, mercedes and bmw competing against lexus with now a 30% disadvantage. so the ecb has been eerily quiet when it comes to, you know, the currency rand the

level of the euro and i wonder if maybe they're going to realize that if the, the strong euro would certainly help diswage fears on the bond side, now starting to ding the equity side. we'll have to see. tracy: i have a couple seconds left. you said financial stocks heating up again of the does that mean you're buying into them? >> yeah. so we shifted out of tech and into, into finance about a month ago. finance, relatively cheap it its pierce and moving into the right direction. things are picking up for the group. i don't think it is happy days here again but certainly improving relative to the rest of the market. tracy: we'll take improving any day. jack ablin with bmo harris private bank. thank you, sir. >> thank you. ashley: we have breaking news. we're getting new remarks now out of the congressional budget office as it hold as news conference on its annual budget and economic projections. a few of the major headlines to bring you. cbo director doug elmendorf says the u.s. faces, quote,

very large budget and economic challenges. no kidding. the cbo says that the gdp will be 1 1/2% higher if not for tax hikes apspending cuts. and the cbo expects the fed to raise the fed funds rate and sell assets in 2016. so here we are in 2013. so, aways to go yet. according to the cbo. tracy: okay. we file that in the captain obvious folder? ashley: i think so. tracy: is your wallet running on empty? gas prices jumping 23 cents last month. ashley: yikes! think could go higher as oil heads back to '97 a barrel. we're going to the pits of the cme and we'll take a look at some winners and losers. the dow is up 123 points. we'll be right back.

♪ ashley: it is half past the hour. take a look at the dow 30. united technologies and ibm in the read. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole petallides standing by. just off of session highs. nicole: we have had of arrows. you mentioned bank of america. we have seen the financials leading the way. where do you think we go from here? a lot of people think overbought >> i think it is important the market activity that we are

seeing today compared to yesterday. as people have been talking over time, when will the selloff called, what will trigger it, will there be real momentum to it? nicole: yesterday we were down 130 points. >> it is showing me that this market is healthy. it will add to a little bit of the confusion that investors have. once they start seeing these large swings, it will give them more of a reason. we need to see a little bit more steadiness in this market. nicole: you are right. three days in a row of triple digit move. back to you. ashley: thank you very much.

tracy: i had my calculator out because i was going to figure this out for you. gas prices on the rise. last year the average american household spent $3000 on gas. gas prices are up from a year ago. we have yet to enter the so-called busy summer driving season where prices tend to go up. i figured out what i spent last year, $6800. ashley: ouch. tracy: i know. i fill up twice a week between commuting here and running the kids around. i know. ashley: that is a lot of money. tracy: yeah. ashley: oil prices that they back today. jeff flock is in the pits of this cme with the very latest. jeff: she drives an electric car also. you really cannot imagine.

that is really awful. oil is up $0.47 today. yesterday a big loser. 96.44. oil has been climbing. yesterday was a brief arrest. take a look at the three month period it is still very, very difficult there. really high prices on gasoline all over the country. i want to bring in scott. put those numbers up. you get the increase in the last week. the biggest increase, the fastest increase in the last two years. this is a downer for the economy. >> we still have some things that do not tell us the same thing that the talking heads are. jeff: it is like a tax, not a levied tax.

where is it worse, well, other than california, take a look, it is worse in the northeast. hurricane related stuff. the west a little bit better. i think wyoming is the only state below three dollars a gallon. >> we can say it is a tax on consumption. it really is not. it is a tax on the utility. it is bigger than you really think. jeff: i know you have to come to work. i know you have to take the kids around. i think you really ought to look into an electric car though. tracy: but then i cannot fit all those kids in there because they are so small. we will tie them to the roof. ashley: or send them on the bus.

jeff flock at this cme, thank you so much. shedding some light on the super bowl power outage. it dated back all the way to october. tracy: the top-rated super bowl ad by budweiser. we will introduce to you clydesdale. ashley: let's take a look at the ten and 30 year treasuries. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all onhinkorswim

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and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. ♪ >> i am shibani joshi with your fox business brief. u.s. home prices jumped in december by the most in six and a half years. prices rose 8.3% compared with a year ago. that is the biggest gain since may 2006. shares of the dow -- shares of dell are trading higher. they are going private. microsoft is lending 2 billion to the deal. it is the largest buyout of the time since the start of the financial crisis. earning season continues today. walt disney, panera bread,

expedia and zynga will report after the bell. that is the latest from the fox business. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

ashley: while the cause of super bowl sunday's blackout is under investigation, documents released that engineers warned months before the big game that the stadiums electrical system was not that great. it could go down, they said. the test showed the cake and a chance of failure. nearly $1 million of improvements were needed. tracy: crazy. they did rollout beyoncé. give the girl a break.

ashley: and george w. bush. [ laughter ] tracy: we have an update on the clydesdale force that starred in the anheuser-busch commercial. it generated more than 60,000 tweets, facebook, and other messages. the name is hope. ashley: it is a little old, isn't it? it should have been the drunken horse or something. i don't know. the deal will increase the u.s. cables group presence in europe. the parent company is news corporation. dennisdennis kneale is on the s. dennis: just when you think

cable cowboy john malone will write off in the sunset, he got another deal. virgin media stock was up 15%. the company confirms it is in the talks for a takeover. it is up 17%. maybe a billion dollars in debt. richard branson still holds 3% stake in virgin. it is also the number two cable player. malone acquired a sizable stake in news corporation a number of years ago. murdoch bought it back to get him to go away. malone will be paying top dollar for virgin beard the stock is up more than 70% in the past year. liberty global stock up 40% in

the same time. malone built the largest before selling it to at&t years ago. he now controlled the largest cable system holdings in the world. it is just that all of it is overseas. he just took control of sirius xm. it started out at only $12,000. that set the chief packing. not to worry, he makes more than $100 million on the stock would malone started to go after that company. ashley. ashley: thank you, dennis. i didn't give it all away in the lead. tracy: it is quarter till. time for stocks now. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we have been talking about this housing recovery. it is moving a couple of retail names.

nicole: the retail name is hide -- the retail name is higher. bed bath and beyond of 2.5%. much like target and macy's. today you had citigroup talking positively about these three retailers. raising them to a buy rating from a neutral. citing those improving home sales. just talking about the overall environment. macy's and target will be key beneficiaries of the housing recovery. of course, people start to go there to spruce up their homes. they have things that certainly go along with it. the wealth of fact, the transition of fact, these are some of the words that citigroup are using in their notes. back to you.

ashley: businesses plan for how it should be done. next. tracy: billions of time and fuel waiting in traffic. trust me, i know. take a look at some of today's winners and losers on the nasdaq. we will be right back. ♪ (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. voted "best investment services company." officewith an online package new colincluding: domain name,y! website builder with five pages and basic email just $49.99! that's up to 76 percent below online providers

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tracy: in a little under 30 minutes from now, president obama will meet with a host of major business leaders. peter barnes has at the latest at the white house. peter, what do we expect the president to say about this? >> to ask the business leaders to call their friends in

congress and especially their republican friends in congress to try to get immigration reform moving. and in particular to pressure republicans on their demand that the president do more, propose more in the way of order security and enforcement of existing immigration laws before congress approve any easier path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented aliens, especially anything that they smelled like an amnesty program for them. among the leaders here, about a dozen of them altogether, ceo of goldman sachs, ceo of coca-cola, mercer mayer of yahoo!, i have seen all of them walk in here within the last 20 minutes or so. here is what they said about some kind of trigger related to border security and enforcement

and an easier path to citizenship. >> we are all very clear with the president that what we are demanding is a road to citizenship that is clear and direct. whether it is border security or any other types of enforcement. this administration has done more on enforcement than any other administration. that is not the starting point. peter: these progression leaders said the president was "aligned with their point of view." tracy: thank you very much. ashley: president obama is working to provide citizenship for illegal immigrants, the path to citizenship for highly skilled workers may be getting a lot easier. there would be an additional charge to employers that would

be spent on math and science education in the u.s. interesting. joining us now is senior editor and fox news contributor. thank you so much for joining us. what do you think of this idea? >> well, it certainly solves the problem of a number of companies, high-tech companies, in particular, that have these jobs, these very high tech jobs that are very well paying, by the way, pay over $100,000 a year with just a bachelors degree. microsoft alone has 6000 job opportunities that they cannot fill. they need the talent. they claim they will go someplace like canada to get immigrants if they cannot get them here. what it does not do and i am concerned about is it does not address the question of why do we not have american workers

that are skilled, educated, out there and available for these jobs? they say there is $3 million a month that goes unfilled. a lot of them are these high-tech jobs. it just requires a bachelor degree in, for example, computer science. our education system is definitely askew. the fund that they set up, i am just not sure it goes far enough. ashley: clearly, the kids in this country are not being taught the skills where the jobs are. it is very simple, really. why have they been so slow to recognize this factor? >> it really is a crime. we have about 42,000 american high schools. only about 1000 or so offer an advanced computer science program.

you cannot even take computer science and how that count towards your core curriculum when you need to graduate. it starts that high school. our community colleges are a disaster. people go there, they do not graduate, they do not get guidance on the kinds of jobs and training that they need. we have to take a real serious look at this. frankly, it is leadership that should start at the top with a president who cared about getting a workforce ready for the 21st century. we have 7.9% unemployment. let's start addressing this job problem for our young people and getting them trained for the jobs that already there, let alone the ones that are coming online. ashley: are we talking about a big expensive -- will it cost a lot of money to change the curriculum? >> a lot of it is priority. a lot of it does not cost money.

it requires schools to change the priority for the kinds of math and science that they require and the kinds of requirements that they have two really focus on these kinds of jobs. it requires some money, but it does not require, you know, it will not break the bank. ashley: thank you so much for joining us. really appreciate it. tracy: we are starting to hear this story more and more. okay. i know. it sounds like a broken record. americans wasted, wait for it, 5.5 billion hours sitting in traffic. 4 billion of those hours were mine. [ laughter ] tracy: $818 in time and fuel. americans are adapting to clogged roads by allowing an

hour for a trip that should take only 15 minutes. washington, d.c., los angeles, san francisco, new york and boston are in the top five. ashley: i do a lot of my homework on this feeling will stuck in a traffic jam. tracy: how many people put their mascara on in the car? i am surprised there are not more accidents. ashley: liz claman takes you through the next year. kevin thompson talks about some of those. "countdown to the closing bell" is next. a ♪ if you have the nerve to believe that cookie cutters should be for cookies, not your investment strategy.

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